Dual purpose snowmobile hood

ABSTRACT

A snowmobile is shown having a forward compartment in which an engine is mounted. A protective and decorative hood is provided for the compartment. An open access door is formed in a top wall of the hood above the engine to provide cooling air flow to the engine when open. A fitted access panel is removably secured in the access door to protect and cover the engine when closed.

United States Patent Boehm et al.

[ 1 Sept. 5, 1972 [54] DUAL PURPOSE SNOWMOBILE HOOD [72] Inventors: KurtB. Boehm, Lake Bluff, 11].; Leslie W. Foster, Wayzata; Ole E. Tweet,Roseau, both of Minn.

[73] Assignee: Textron Inc., 2, Providence, R1.

[22] Filed: Dec. 14, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 97,610

[52] US. Cl ..180/5, 296/31 P, 180/69 C [51] Int. Cl. ..B62m 27/00 [58]Field of Search ..296/31 P; 180/5, 69 R, 69 C [56] References CitedUNITED STATES PATENTS 1,365,837 1/1921 Leverett ..180/69 C 2,834,4195/1958 Sebok ..180/54 A 3,338,326 8/1967 Hafer ..180/69 C OTHERPUBLICATIONS Johnson Skee-Horse Snowmobiles for 68 (Note Top of Page 2.)

Primary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza Assistant Examiner-John MannixAttorney-Merchant & Gould 71 Answer A snowmobile is shown having aforward compartment in which an engine is mounted. A protective anddecorative hood is provided for the compartment. An open access door isformed in a top wall of the hood above the engine to provide cooling airflow to the engine when open. A fitted access panel is removably securedin the access door to protect and cover the engine when closed.

2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEUSEP 5:912 3.688.856

INVENTORS. KURT B. B0!!! List/l (J. I'OSTER 04! I, 761557 DUAL PURPOSESNOWMOBILE HOOD BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the InventionThis invention relates generally to snowmobile hood constructions andmore-particularly relates to a free air snowmobile hood having a fittedpanel that can be mounted in the free air opening of the hood.

2. Description of the Prior Art The term snowmobile when used hereinmeans a vehicle having an elongated frame with ski steering meansmounted on the forward end thereof and endless drive track means mountedat the rear end thereof to provide the sole. support for the rear of thevehicle. The frame defines aforwardcompartment in which the engine andother components connecting the engine to the drive track are mounted. Atypical prior art snowmobile as shown, for example, in the A. E. HetteenUS. Pat. No. 3,527,505 that issued Sept. 8, 1970 has a forwardly locatedprotective and decorative hood that mounts over the engine compartmentto cover and protect the engine and other drive train components. Thesnowmobile hood shown in the I-Ietteen prior art patent forms a completecover for the engine compartment but louvers and other like openings arenormally provided in the hood to permit air flow over the engine. Mostsnowmobiles of the type shown in the Hetteen patent have fans operatedby the engine that draw or blow air over the cylinders for coolingpurposes.

As recently as two or three years ago, the free air hood was designedand placed in commercial production. In the free air hood, an opening isprovided in the top wall of the hood above the engine. Typically, thecylinder heads and spark plugs of the engine extend. into or throughthis opening. so that full air flow over the engine cylinders and headsis achieved whenever the snowmobile is moving. The snowmobilesmanufactured by applicants assignee have two cycle engines that arenotoriously hard on spark plugs. The free air hood has providedadditional cooling for the engine and spark plugs so that replacementtime is extended. Initially, the free air hood was used with racingmachines to obtain better performance with less vehicle weight.Recently, however, more consumers have demanded the free air type ofmachine.

Other consumers have desired to stay with thestandard hood that providesa complete cover for the engine. The standard hood like that shown inthe Hetteen patent better protects the engine and keeps it cleaner anddrier. Because of these different consumer de mands, it has beennecessary in the prior art to manufacture two different hoods, oneclosed type and one free air type for each snowmobile model. This inturn required a different set of molds and dies for each hood.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a singlesnowmobile hood design that can serve as either a free air hood or likea standard closed hood. An open access door is formed in a top wall ofthe hood above the engine to provide free air flow to the engine whenopen. A removable access panel sized to fit into and cover the accessdoor is also provided. A single set of molds and dies can be used tomanufacture all hoods for a single model. The manufacturer is given thechoice of selling.

the machines with or without the access door. The consumer purchasing a.machine with an access door is given the option of using the machinewith or without the panel.

BRIEF'DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS of Figure 2.

I DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring: now to thedrawings, wherein like reference numerals are used throughout theseveral views to indicate like. elements of the invention, .thereisdisclosed in Fig. l a snowmobile having an elongated. frame defining. aforwardly located engine compartment l0 and an inverted, generallyU-shaped rear portion 11. A seating portion l2is carried by the rearportion 11,. and footrest member 13 extends outwardly from each sidev ofthe bottom edge of rear portion 11. Engine compartment 10 has-a bottompan portion 10a andupturned side. walls 10b terminatingin a peripheraledge 10c lying in a generally horizontal plane. The peripheraledgel0c'thus defines an open top for the enginecompartmentl0; Asshown inFig. 3, an engine 14 is mounted in compartment l0'above the'bottom' panportion l0aand extends upwardly throughthetop of the compartment abovethe. plane of peripheral edge 10 The snowmobile shown in the drawingsalso includes a pair of steerable skis 15, one of which is shown in Fig.I, mounted through and beneath bottom pan portion 10a. Mounted beneathandzpartially within the confines of the inverted, generallyU-shapedrear portion 11 is an endless drive track 16 driven by a drivesprocket wheel 17 mounted on frame 11. Track l6is supported by awheel-type suspension system 18 secured beneath the generally U-shapedrear portion 11.

A suspension system of this kind is more fully shown and describedin theco-pending. Donnelly L. Hetteen US. Pat. application Ser. No. 844,316,filed July 24, I969, assigned to the. same. assignee as the presentapplication.

The snowmobile shown in the drawings is provided with aprotectiveanddecorative hood 20 having abottorn peripheral edge 21 that is securedto theperipheral edge 10c of compartment 10. l-Iood 20 is normallymolded from a plastic material suchas fiber glass or polycarbonate. Itcould, of course, be molded from a metal aswell. Hood 20 is normallyremovably secured to engine compartment 10 so that the operator canquickly remove the entire hood to. work on the engine or other drivecomponents. However'the connection between hood 20 and compartment 10forms no part of the present invention and is not shown herein.

Hood 20 has a pair of spaced headlights 22 and 23 mounted in formedrecesses on opposite sides thereof.

Clear plastic covers 22a and 23a are mounted over the recesses toprotect the headlights and prevent snow or other foreign materials fromlodging in the recesses.

Formed between the two headlights 22 and 23 in a top wall of hood is anopen access door 25. In the preferred embodiment of our invention,access door 25 extends nearly the full longitudinal length of the hood20 and is sufficiently wide to extend on both sides of the engine 14. Asshown in Fig. 3, hood 20 is formed to have a interior shroud 26 securedto the peripheral edge of access door 25. Shroud 26 has a generallyhorizontally extending front portion 26a and generally sloping side andrear walls 26b. An opening 27 is formed in the center of shroud 26 toaccommodate the upwardly extending head and cylinders of engine 14.Shroud 26 is designed so that when the vehicle is moving and door 25 isopen, air will be channeled by the upper surface of shroud 26 directlyover the hottest portions of engine 14 and thence upwardly over hood 20and a windshield 27. Shroud 26 thus provides a flow path for the air soas to achieve maximum cooling and also acts to prevent extraneousmaterials such as snow from entering the engine compartment.

Open access door 25 is provided with a recessed flange 25a around itsperiphery that serves to support a removable access panel 28 that issized to fit into and cover access door 25. Panel 28 is provided at itsrear edge with one or more tabs 29 that extend into correspondinglypositioned slots 30 formed along the rear edge of door 25 to hold therear end of the panel in the door. The front end of panel 28 is providedwith a rotatable hook member 31 that is engageable with hood 20 tosecurely hold panel 28 in the opening 25.

in the preferred embodiment of our invention, the spark plugs 14a ofengine 14 extend slightly through the opening 25 so that a pair ofupwardly extending indentations 28a and 28b are formed in the accesspanel 28 to accommodate spark plugs 42a.

In order to provide air flow for cooling the engine when panel 28 islocked in pace, a pair of air flow openings 32 and 33 are formed in hood20 between opening 25 and the recesses for headlights 22 and 23.Additional openings or louvers could also be provided if more coolingair were required.

By means of the present invention, a snowmobile manufacturer can utilizea single set of molds and dies to manufacture a snowmobile hood that canbe sold either with or without access panel. For high performancemachines, the snowmobile might be sold without a panel. Other consumerswould desire to purchase machines having the removable access panel sothat they could use the machine either with or without the panel. Ourinvention is defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A snowmobile, comprising:

a. an elongated frame with ski steering means mounted on the forward endthereof and endless drive track means mounted at the rear end thereof toprovide the sole support for the rear of the snowmobile;

b. said frame having a forwardly located engine compartment having abottom pan portion and upturned side walls terminating in a peripheraledge lying in a generally horizontal plane and defining an open top;

c. an engine mounted in said compartment above said bottom pan portionand extending upwardly through said open top above said plane of saidedge;

d. a protective and decorative hood removably mounted on said peripheraledge and covering said compartment, said hood having a pair of spacedheadlights mounted therein on opposite sides thereof and an open accessdoor formed in a top wall thereof between said headlights and above saidengine to provide cooling air flow for said engine when open;

e. an access panel sized to fit into and cover said access door;

f. releaseable locking means for removably securing said access panel insaid'access door, said access panel being completely removeable fromsaid access door to permit free flow of cooling air over said engine;and

g. interior shroud means secured to said hood around said access door,said shroud means having an opening therein through which said engineextends.

2. A snowmobile comprising:

a. an elongated frame with ski steering means mounted on the forward endthereof and endless drive track means mounted at the rear end thereof;

b. said frame having a forwardly located engine compartment;

c. an engine mounted in said compartment;

d. a protective and decorative hood removably mounted on and coveringsaid compartment, said hood having an open access door formed in a topwall thereof in line with said engine to provide cooling air flow forsaid engine when open;

e. a removable I protective and decorative access panel for said accessdoor;

f. means for removably securing said access panel in said access door toprotect and cover said engine; and

g. a shroud permanently secured to said hood around said door andextending inwardly toward said compartment, said shroud having anopening therein through which said engine extends and being formed toprovide an air flow path around said engine and to partially preventextraneous materials from entering said compartment.

1. A snowmobile, comprising: a. an elongated frame with ski steeringmeans mounted on the forward end thereof and endless drive track meansmounted at the rear end thereof to provide the sole support for the rearof the snowmobile; b. said frame having a forwardly located enginecompartment having a bottom pan portion and upturned side wallsterminating in a peripheral edge lying in a generally horizontal planeand defining an open top; c. an engine mounted in said compartment abovesaid bottom pan portion and extending upwardly through said open topabove said plane of said edge; d. a protective and decorative hoodremovably mounted on said peripheral edge and covering said compartment,said hood having a pair of spaced headlights mounted therein on oppositesides thereof and an open access door formed in a top wall thereofbetween said headlights and above said engine to provide cooling airflow for said engine when open; e. an access panel sized to fit into andcover said access door; f. releaseable locking means for removablysecuring said access panel in said access door, said access panel beingcompletely removeable from said access door to permit free flow ofcooling air over said engine; and g. interior shroud means secured tosaid hood around said access door, said shroud means having an openingtherein through which said engine extends.
 2. A snowmobile comprising:a. an elongated frame with ski steering means mounted on the forward endthereof and endless drive track means mounted at the rear end thereof;b. said frame having a forwardly located engine compartment; c. anengine mounted in said compartment; d. a protective and decorative hoodremovably mounted on and covering said compartment, said hood having anopen access dooR formed in a top wall thereof in line with said engineto provide cooling air flow for said engine when open; e. a removableprotective and decorative access panel for said access door; f. meansfor removably securing said access panel in said access door to protectand cover said engine; and g. a shroud permanently secured to said hoodaround said door and extending inwardly toward said compartment, saidshroud having an opening therein through which said engine extends andbeing formed to provide an air flow path around said engine and topartially prevent extraneous materials from entering said compartment.